Behold!

The Golden Heli Strap Award...

You know you’re truly killing it when the crew feels compelled to invent an award in a feeble attempt to express gratitude and appreciation for your efforts.

That’s what just happened for Leo Hoorn, one of the Sherpas’ senior cameramen/editors.

The guy was just crushing it, and we had to acknowledge it somehow.

Hence, The Golden Heli Strap was born, and wrapped with no shortage of ceremony around the tips of Mr.Hoorn’s halved splitboard.

“The real TSN Turning Point for me,” explains Sherpas Director Eric Crosland, “was when Leo learned how to charge the RED camera brick batteries off the Goal Zero solar unit on Mount Hunter. Otherwise we would have had to send the batteries back and forth on the Talkeetna Air Taxi.”

“I don’t even know how he did it,” Crosland goes on. “He just… figured it out.”

Hailing from Smithers, BC, the self-made, self-taught cameraman uses an unwavering work ethic and positive attitude to push through adversity and get the shot. That’s all there is to it. Even when it’s -35 and his workplace is a glacier-carved mountainscape that’s been absolutely clawed apart by crevasses.

Case in point: The little guy pumped out 35 time lapses on that 12-day Mount Hunter Trip! Crosland was so jazzed that he invented The Golden Heli Strap Award, which will go on to be awarded to the most deserving Sherpa cameraman every year.

The heli strap can be the most essential tool in your shooting kit; it has 1000 uses for rigging cameras and tying shit together. Leo’s basically a human heli strap, so he’s definitely a worthy recipient of the soon-to-be-coveted award.